“They say Chicago is the city that works. What some people don’t understand is it works it a lot of different ways.” – Alderman Ronin Gibbons
To call me predisposed to enjoying a show like The Chicago Code is an understatement. First off, it’s created by Shawn Ryan and once his beloved Terriers was cancelled, I knew I would need my fix from the man soon. Secondly, I like cop shows that have a grand, overarching scope like this one does. It’d be vastly premature to compare it to The Wire, but it has similar themes: the criminals are bad, but the system is worse. Throw in a bunch of solid actors lead by Jason Clarke (Brotherhood), Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights), and Delroy Lindo (Clockers, Heist, Get Shorty, and dozens of other movies and TV shows) and there was no way I wasn’t going to at least be intrigued.
But none of these factors compare to the main cause for my excitement over this show: its setting. You’re not going to find many people who love the City of Chicago more than me, and I have a great appreciation for pieces of fiction that show a true respect and affection for it. The Chicago Code might not be perfect, but it clearly loves Chicago too.
(Of course, then there are the people I follow on Twitter that seem to be complaining that the show lays on the Chicago references too thick. Sure, dropping Cubs-White Sox jokes in the first five minutes might be a little on the nose, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t realistic. Presuming the first episode took place in the summertime — i.e. not Bears season — there’s a lot of friendly and also not-so-friendly ribbing of fans of the opposite team that you yourself root for. For the record, I’m a Cubs fan, despite growing up on the South Side.)
Luckily, the first episode itself turned out to be very interesting on its own merits. And like any pilot, there is a lot of information being shelled out in a limited amount of time. The main crux of the series is this: Jennifer Beals plays Police Superintendant Theresa Colvin. She’s only six months on the job as the first woman to hold the position, but she doesn’t plan to get walked on by the power politicians that pull the strings in the city. In fact, the most powerful politician, Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Lindo) is her prime target in an unofficial corruption case she is putting together. Gibbons’ crimes are generally pretty vague, but we do know he has his hands in a contract-for-bribe scandal based around a construction company that he all but owns, just not on paper.
Colvin’s taskforce for taking down Gibbons is more or less centered around her former partner and current homicide detective, Jarek Wysocki (Clarke). Wysocki’s cop father had his own run-in with Gibbons in the past but had been unable to make a move against the Alderman. So while there is something of a grudge involved with his involvement in the investigation, he seems more focused on a personal moral code. He has a high amount of respect for what it means to be a police officer or a person of power in general, and seeing that power being abused just doesn’t sit with him.
Not that he’s an especially moral person himself. He is having an affair with his ex-wife even though he’s engaged to a supposed 27-year-old hottie. But hey, he doesn’t curse so it evens out.
Wysocki has a reputation for blowing through partners indiscriminately, but Lauria arrives as his newest protege, Detective Caleb Evers. Evers is undoubtedly a little odd (his ice-breaking technique involves surveying Wysocki on his favorite album covers and movie nude scenes), but he shows exceptional instincts and after a brief debate, Wysocki keeps him around.
(I haven’t seen the final season of Friday Night Lights yet because I don’t have DirecTV and thus I’ll have to wait for the rebroadcast on NBC like all us other schmucks, but I really hope the series ends with Luke Cafferty leaving Dillon, Texas and proclaiming he’s going to become a cop in Chicago. And change his name for some reason.)
The action is set into motion when the comptroller for the construction company Gibbons oversees is murdered along with her husband in Grant Park. It soon becomes clear to Colvin and Wysocki that Gibbons had her killed because she was going to come forward regarding the contracts-for-cash information she came across. Unfortunately, there is no way to prove it as Gibbons covers his tracks exceptionally well, never actually calling out a contract on the woman’s life, but able to make it happen anyway. And even more telling, Gibbons seems to be very aware that Colvin and Wysocki are aware of his crimes. He just doesn’t feel any reason to be particularly concerned.
What he (presumably) doesn’t know, though, is that Colvin has an undercover officer inside Chicago Irish Mob, an organization with close ties to Gibbons. The officer, Liam Hennessy (Billy Lush), gets into Gibbons inner-circle near the end of the episode and will clearly be an interesting wrench in Gibbons’ operation going forward.
Meanwhile, Colvin is dealing with another situation outside of the Gibbons investigation. A gang disrespects the corpse of a rival and she and her assistant/driver/partner/protege, Antonio spends the day attempting to work out a truce between the groups. And she seems to accomplish it, until one of the gang members pulls a drive-by and kill Antonio, just moments after he made her wear his bulletproof vest just to be safe.
The scene is particularly effective because of how it was framed. The Chicago Code uses voice-over narration from all of the main characters, setting the table and such. In lesser hands, I could see it being distracting, but Ryan and company seems to use it just enough to be effective. But in a more dynamic sense, the narration seemed safe. I had no worries for anyone’s safety while they were narrating their scenes. But it is during Antonio’s recollection of being “rescues” by Colvin that he is killed, literally mid-sentence. I’m not so shocked that the writers killed off a seemingly main character in the pilot, I’m just shocked they did it the way that they did. And if anything, it’s refreshing. They are making a stand early, saying that The Chicago Code won’t live up to your every expectation.
My one concern about the show, however, is the character of Wysocki’s niece, Vonda (played by Devin Kelley). She is a beat cop and Jarek is highly protective of her and everything about their relationship is far too cliched. Throw in her secret romance with her partner, and I was trying not to groan every time she came on screen. I don’t necessarily think The Chicago Code is aiming to be some kind of didactic look into what it truly takes to be a Chicago cop, but everything about this character and her storyline came off as unrealistic and — worst of all — dull.
I had very high expectations for The Chicago Code thanks to the vast amount of hype FOX was putting behind it and I can safely say those expectations were met. However, they weren’t necessarily exceeded either. While the show is undoubtedly entertaining, well-acted, and cinematically-shot, it has a lot of room for improvement. But from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t have any doubt that the writers and producers are capable of making any necessary adjustments.
If it lasts long enough that is. I give FOX credit for taking a chance on a cable-style drama and putting it on network television. They did the same with Lone Star, though, and it couldn’t find an audience. But The Chicago Code would seem to be a more universally appreciated concept so here’s to hoping it can stick around.
Lingering thoughts about The Chicago Code pilot:
* Alderman Gibbons is having an affair with his secretary, and a pretty nasty ear-licking one at that.
* I’m not so sure about some of the music cues. Playing Kanye West’s “Heartless” during a police raid doesn’t make much sense to me (plus, that song just sucks). And that 1980s guitar solo that closed the episode was off-putting.
* Man, after going through one of the worst blizzards in Chicago history, those scenes of summertime in the city look gorgeous.
* Jason Clarke’s accent isn’t great, but it’s still better than most of the southern accents on The Walking Dead or True Blood.
* The scene where Evers had to pull the fire alarm at the construction company and got ink sprayed on his hand was pretty damn funny.
* “If there’s one thing Chicago knows, it’s how to punch back.” – Wysocki. Amen, brother.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.